Power issue with lamp

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Alan the Wrench

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I make lamps out of stuff as a hobby. mostly junk laying around. this time around i want to make a computer desk lamp out of cds and i was hoping to run CCFL (cold cathode flourescent lights). i was using regular flourescents, but heat was a issue. the CCFLs look great but they run of the 12V power supply. i was wanting to use a usb as the power source seeing as how thats way more convenient for potential customers than having to wire it up to thier power supply. the issue as most know, is that the usb hub only outputs at 5V. i have looked everywhere for some gadget that will boost 5V to 12V to no avail. does anyone have any suggestions? there may be a free cd lamp in your future!
 
Heya,

Get a dc-dc converter. Do not forget to check the power intake of that too. It may damage your usb connector depeding on the current.
 
I looked into that. there are a bunch that will step down but i cant seem to find one that will step 5V up to 12V. i can find a bunch of techical schematics, but that doesnt help me much. Im not that nifty.
 
How much current does the light draw off 12V, pointless even looking if it's not possible.
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
How much current does the light draw off 12V, pointless even looking if it's not possible.
Click to expand...


the light draws 12V and the onboard converter boosts it to 180V.

as for using LEDs...yeah i need something long and skinny to go inside a stack of cds. LED strips dont give that uniform illumination along the entire length like CCFLs. i guess i could try but i dont think it would look all that great. here's a picture of the last one i made using regular a flourescent light. the CCFLs are skinnier so i dont have to drill out the center of the cds (i wind up breaking a lot of them) and they are mucho cheaper.

**broken link removed**
 
Last edited:
That lamp looks awesome, Alan!

Why not just use a 12V wall-wart transformer to power the CCFL inverter? USB ports are only good for 100-150ma, which works out to less than a watt.
 
Last edited:
duffy said:
That lamp looks awesome, Alan!

Why not just use a 12V wall-wart transformer to power the CCFL inverter? USB ports are only good for 100-150ma, which works out to less than a watt.
Click to expand...


thanks for that...ideally i wanted customers to be able to just plug the lamp into a usb. i thought that would be a good selling point. if it comes down to not being possible, then there are several ways i can set it up for wall outlets and the like. its just a shame to see an idea that i thought would be cool fizzle out, ya know?
 
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